Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World Volume 8

innocent. He had been subjected to unspeakable interrogations. Even then, he
hadn’t planned to retaliate against the Hydra.

Revenge meant being bound to past emotions. It ran contrary to his
philosophy to look only to the future…

“Salinger.”
“I thought of you as my archrival—my only one. I enjoyed being with you,
even as adversaries. I wanted to spend more time with you.”

Except there was one thing no one could ever touch, just like a chin
shield. Mira was Salinger’s scale.

“You’ve crossed the line, Hydra. Not with the queen, but with me. Know
that.”

This declaration of revenge was the one thing that ran in opposition to all
his values.

“Who told you that you could lay a hand on Mira?!”

The Nebulis palace. General hall.
The conference of the Founder’s descendants progressed in silence.
“Something went off in the Hydra’s facility?!” Alice shouted, voice

ringing through the hall.
“Lady Alice, please lower your voice,” Rin scolded, which made Alice

come back to her senses.
“B-but…!”
They had just learned Snow and Sun was ablaze. That was the exact

facility the Imperial unit had snuck into.
…Is it from a battle with Iska’s unit?
…Does that mean they were discovered, even under disguise?!
Alice was trying to remain calm, but her heartbeat was quickening from

fear. Mercifully, Alice wasn’t the only one struggling here. Dozens of
ministers and guards behind her had the same expression.

“What an alarming state of affairs.”
There was one tranquil voice. The head of the Hydra was speaking. Even

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after the discovery that the base containing Sisbell was ablaze, his gaze
remained unchanged.

“It has only been a few days since the Imperial attack. It’s no surprise if
their soldiers are still hiding in the vicinity. You, there.” Talisman turned to a
royal guard who was holding his breath. The guard was a young man who
had come in running with this report. “I believe the culprits to be Imperial
soldiers. Please have the military police immediately—”

“I-it can’t be!” cried the guard.
“What?”
“It’s the transcendental sorcerer, Salinger—the criminal who escaped
from prison in the thirteenth state!”
“…What did you say?”
This statement cracked Talisman’s mask. His smile fractured.
“And you are sure of this? There was no mistake?”
“Y-yes, sir. The military police are sorting through the footage! But we’ve
already confirmed his face on the surveillance cameras using the data
gathered during his imprisonment…”
“And they’re positive it’s him?”
“Yes.”
“……” Talisman crossed his arms.
Alice watched the whole scene from across the table before sharing a look
with her attendant.
“Rin?”
“I—I have no idea! The last I saw of him was in the thirteenth state. No
one has seen him since. Perhaps Her Majesty is—Your Majesty?” Rin
addressed the queen, who sat next to Alice. “…Your Majesty?”
She received no reply. Rin’s voice didn’t reach her. She looked into the
distance. It seemed her mind was elsewhere.
“…Salinger. What in the world are you…?” whispered the queen.
“Let us continue the conference.” Talisman clapped once, the sound
echoing through the hall. “If they know who the culprit is, they must have
control over the situation. Your words of support are appreciated, but that’s
all we need. Our defenses will hold up somehow.”
“How uncharacteristic of you,” replied Lord Mask of the Zoa. The man—
silent until now—coolly lifted the corner of his mouth. Next to him was
Kissing, a black-haired girl wearing a blindfold. “Why has that infamous

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sorcerer chosen now to reap destruction on us? That would normally make
you suspicious, Lord Talisman.”

“……”
“It was Snow and Sun, the astral power engineering research institute that
was attacked, right? Why was it targeted? Perhaps you have an idea you can
share with us?”
“Any ordinary person like me would have trouble imagining how to
commit treason.” Talisman shrugged. “I have no idea why he would do such
a thing, but we can settle this by catching him and investigating his motives.”
“Oh?” Curiosity worked its way into Lord Mask’s voice. “So you’re
saying you’ll capture the sorcerer then?”
“Our defense is perfect. Since we have no idea when Imperial soldiers
might appear, after all.”
“…Tch.” Alice gritted her teeth while they continued their conversation.
That was because Talisman wasn’t just using the term generally to refer to
the forces that had attacked the palace. He was using it to refer to Unit 907,
the soldiers who had gone to save her sister.
…Perfect defense, huh? So, they were planning on ambushing Iska’s unit.
…They expected Snow and Sun to be under attack.
But what did this new development mean? She could hardly think the
timing was a mere coincidence.
Why had a felon-at-large resurfaced at this exact moment? And why had
he targeted Snow and Sun?

2

The Hydra’s research facility. The leading astral power engineering and
research institute.

It once had an expansive lawn that stretched out like the ocean, dewy and
alive. Now, the grounds were red and black from the flames. Its iron fence
was warped out of shape. Around the fence were guards who had been
knocked down by Salinger’s Blast—his astral power.

“You chose the wrong man to mess with, Hydra.” The jacket draped on
his shoulders billowed in the wind. The model-esque man with a head full of

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white hair marched straight through the scattered sparks.
“Creating a simple diversion would be such a bore. After all, you’ve all

invited chaos into the Sovereignty. How about I bring those secrets to light?”
A dozen soldiers leaped out from Snow and Sun’s first-floor entrance,

hauling giant guns and specialized riot shields to fight against astral mages.
“Oh, you misunderstand,” he scoffed at the gathering soldiers. “You’re

just average soldiers, destined to stay on the sidelines. Did you think you
were leads on this stage? You should have just sat in the back row and
applauded.”

They pointed the muzzles of their guns at him. He looked at them with
ennui and sighed.

“Yes, that’s right.” Salinger snapped his fingers. “There was Talisman’s
protégé. Someone who knows of the Gregorian Descant. Come out. Name
yourself. I will give you permission to join me onstage just this once.”

Silence.
Not a single one of the mercenaries who’d leveled their guns at him said a
word in reply. Not just because they didn’t understand what he was talking
about—they wouldn’t have been able to even begin to conceptualize it.
“Ha-ha. See? The head of house doesn’t trust you at all,” the sorcerer
jeered. “Enough. I grow weary of seeing your faces. Disappear. Go on now
—”

“The planet is filled with rage.”

Violet flames.
The ash-covered lawn broke apart—a fissure in the earth that erupted with
a wall of flames. It created a dome around Salinger, a barrier of sorts.
“Is this…astral flame?” Salinger’s eyes glittered.
The flames hadn’t come from activating an astral power. No, this was a
surge of astral energy that had condensed into a material form, hot like fire.
Once it started to blaze, neither water nor cold wind could extinguish it.
A century ago, these flames had reduced the Imperial capital to ash.
“A prison of astral flames. You think this will keep me contained?”
“No, this is your grave.”
From beyond the wall of violet flames emerged a human silhouette,

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speaking in a girl’s voice.
“You will be burned at the stake. We use flames to purify those who

commit most heinous crimes.”
This wasn’t a person.
Calcified metals gleaming ruby had hardened around her head, appearing

hair-like. The thing that looked like a girl wore no clothing; her body was
transparent like glass.

“Salinger, the transcendental sorcerer, I presume? Oh my, you’re much
younger than I’d imagined. And just my type, you handsome devil. I almost
regret the fact that I need to burn you to a crisp.”

“……”
“Oh, cat got your tongue? Do I look that bewitching?”
“So you’re the experimental subject,” Salinger murmured.
“Huh!” Her eyes opened wide. “What in the world do you mean?”
“Don’t play stupid with me.” The man glanced around the dome of astral
flames around him. “The tri-stage, the integration of humans with the astral
powers. Humans who achieve this stage become more powerful than astral
mages and reach an entirely new plane. But only two have reached that state
using their own power in the history of the world. The Founder Nebulis and
Lord Yunmelngen.”
“”
“And soon, I will be the third. But the Hydra have been experimenting for
decades to artificially achieve the state. You were a subject in those
experiments, weren’t you?”
Humans turned into astral mages if they hosted astral power. But…if the
astral power went from possessing the human body to fusing with it, what
would happen?
“I saw it happen thirty years ago, after all. One of the prototypes before
you. The true culprit behind the attack on Nebulis VII.”
“Oh. So you knew all of that, huh,” replied the inhuman girl. “I suppose
you know about me, too, then?”
“I don’t. And I don’t care to.”
“It’s Vichyssoise. As you can see, I’ve given up my humanity, but I hate
being referred to as a subject. If you’d be so kind as to use my name.”
“It’s a little too late for that,” he answered, looking around the violet
dome as he spoke. “You want me to remember your name? You’re bold,

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waif.”
“But I know about the Gregorian Descant, too. Should you really be

talking to me like that?”
“It’s on the top floor, isn’t it?” Salinger looked at the wall of flames and

chuckled in a low voice. “As soon as I spoke about the descant, you
scrambled to set up a barrier before I could get inside. Even if it meant
exposing these astral flames to me.”

“……”
“Amateur. You think you could have deceived my eyes?”
“Oh, that’s too bad.” Vichyssoise the witch snickered. The astral flames
that blazed from her body roared and rolled. “You know too much. I like
your face, so I thought I’d toy with you. But I suppose I’ll have to reduce you
to ash now.”
“Don’t you think you’re getting ahead of yourself, subject?”
“I’ll teach you something, old sorcerer. Your time has passed. Even if you
poke your nose through the curtains now, your act is over. There’s no stage
for you.” The witch sneered.
“It seems you don’t understand.” The transcendental sorcerer kept his
composure. “I do not need to rise to the stage. The stage is wherever I appear.
I told you from the start. Cheers and applause mark my arrival.”

Snow and Sun. Fifteenth floor.
Talisman’s personal room was in front of their eyes. Unit 907 and the two

servants watched the scene below them, dumbstruck. The sparks and ash
flying in the air meant visibility was low, but they could see the gun-toting
soldiers rushing outside.

“H-hey, Jhin! If the guards are going outside, that means we haven’t been
found out, right…?”

“Looks like it. I dunno if it’s just coincidence, but looks like someone was
a lot more rash than us.” Jhin put a hand on the windowpane. He looked
down, not even blinking. “I’m guessing this explosion has something to do
with us, considering everything. You really haven’t got a clue what it was?”

“A-as I said, no!” Nami shook her head dramatically, which sent her hair

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fluttering. “It’s not as though Miss Rin would resort to such forceful
measures. If we were forcing our way into the building, you never would
have needed my astral power…”

“Then who is it?”
“I-if I knew that, I wouldn’t be so concerned!”
“Wait, Nami. Quiet,” Sistia stopped her. She was closing her eyes,
focusing. She was the only one able to faintly hear the sound on the ground
level using Echo.
“…Salinger.”
Iska doubted his own ears when she revealed the culprit’s identity.
There was only one person he knew who went by that name. It was the
very name of the evilest sorcerer from the prison spires in the thirteenth state.
…No, but he’s supposed to be—
…I thought he was imprisoned again right before his great escape.
What’s going on?
Why was his name coming up here?
“Salinger? Jhin, who was that again? I don’t really remember,” Nene said.
“No clue,” Jhin replied. “If he hasn’t left an impression, he’s probably not
anybody special.”
“That’s not true at all!” Nami wailed. “Salinger is a terribly villainous
felon in our country! He invaded the palace thirty years ago and attacked the
seventh queen! He’s a fiend! Sistia, you must have misheard what they were
saying…”
“The guards were yelling his name on the ground.” Sistia slowly opened
her eyes. “I bet they’re more shaken up than we are. Commander Mismis, I
think the opportunity is now.”
“So we’re changing plans?!”
“Yes. The enemy is panicking, which means this is our moment.”
Talisman’s personal room. Protected by three layers of security measures,
the door that Sistia pointed to made Mismis clamp down her mouth into a
scowl.
“The guards are all outside, which means the inside of the building is
short on security. And even if we do something now, they won’t notice,
right?” Mismis asked.
“Yes. Even if they did, they would believe it was the sorcerer who did it.
Our best plan of action is to quickly save Lady Sisbell and leave this place.”

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“…I got it. Iska, do you think you can do it?”
“I’ll break it down.”
There was a flash. He had used his black sword to cut a hole large enough
for one person to enter. The surveillance camera on the ceiling had been
blown to bits using Jhin’s handgun.
“Nene.”
“Leave it to me!” Nene leaped into the hole in the door and unlocked it
from the inside. She pushed open the thick door.
Talisman’s personal room…
As soon as Iska stepped into it, the smell of ink assaulted his nose. The
space was large enough to act as a conference room. The walls were lined
with floor-to-ceiling bookcases.
…A research room?
…No, I guess this is his study.
There were books on astral power research, old languages, astronomy, and
even philosophy. Hundreds had been sorted on each bookcase. The dozens of
bookcases gave it a library vibe.
“Lady Sisbell!” Nami’s voice rasped as she looked around the room.
“Lady Sisbell, we have come to save—”
In the back of the room.
Creak…
A beam of sun illuminated a chair that had been turned away from them.
It swiveled.
Talisman’s luxurious chair turned halfway around, revealing the profile of
the person sitting in it.

“Someone’s in a rush. Had you requested an appointment, I would have
prepared some tea.”

What a charming voice.
And it had come from a girl with hair the color of lapis lazuli, a hue more
brilliant than the blue sky.
“Oh. I cannot see the people who have seemed to magically open the
door. So you must be using Fog or one of its subspecies. If you’re able to slip
past the cameras, it must be a rare one.”

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Her face looked mature, and her features were chiseled.
She recrossed her legs, showing off her pale thighs. Even that action
seemed perfectly calibrated to be its most beautiful and fluid form. Her
beauty was on the same level as Alice and Sisbell, both of whom Iska knew
well.
“…It’s Princess Mizerhyby,” Sistia breathed out, whispering from behind
Iska, “It was her breathing I was hearing, not Lady Sisbell’s. I am so sorry
for my blunder.”
“Her?”
From the Hydra.
Since the planning phases of this mission to invade Snow and Sun, Rin
had been on guard for this purebred.
Mizerhyby Hydra Nebulis IX.
The next in line for the head of the Hydra. Rarely did she leave
Talisman’s side. As for her power…

“Princess Mizerhyby’s power is called Glory.”
“It’s quite special. There are few astral powers that are similar to hers,
but I’ve heard…”

He remembered what Rin had told him.
“How unpleasant.”
…At that moment, a brilliant flash went off, burning itself into their
retinas. The glimmer, bright as the sun, had been released from the astral
crest on Mizerhyby’s forehead—astral energy shot out of it, materializing.
…What is this?!
…It’s way too strong, even for astral energy!
It was so brilliant, it made their vision white, so it was almost impossible
to open their eyes.
“I suppose that I didn’t express myself clearly enough. I mean to say you
should show yourselves. I was so generous to wait for you. Well, if you are
ignoring my kindness, then I suppose there’s only one thing that must be
done.”
Snap, went her supple fingers.
“Instant execution.”

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They heard the sound of a motor whirring. Gun muzzles emerged from the
bookcases surrounding Iska’s unit from all directions, peeking out from the
gaps between the tomes.

“…What?!”
All of them realized something at the same time. This wasn’t Talisman’s
study.
It was an execution room.
“These are ray guns that condense and discharge astral energy. Twenty-
four in all. They are an experimental device invented in this facility, but I can
assure they’re powerful. They use my astral energy, after all.”
The purebred pointed her finger—right at the center of the room—exactly
where Iska’s unit was positioned.
“Au revoir,” called out the purebred coolly.
“Get down!” Iska shouted over the princess.
The ray guns blasted. Iska’s black sword sliced through the rays heading
toward them.
One of the rays grazed his shoulder. Blood dribbled from the area,
splattering on the ground.
“Oh, one of you has come out.”
When she saw Iska, the corners of her lips curled up. Fog hadn’t been able
to contain him when Iska rushed forward to slice through the rays a moment
earlier.
“Just you? Or maybe your invisible comrades have been hit, knocked out
on the floor? Fog can be so hard to use.”
“Leave me behind!” Iska yelled at the five people who were still hidden.
“You get to the ground floor ahead of me!”
“Iska?!”
“I’ll figure out where you are on my own. Hurry!”
Iska could no longer see them, likely because he was no longer under the
effect of Fog. But he did sense some presences hurry out of the room.
…So Sisbell wasn’t on the top floor.
…Only her attendant was in this building. Has she been moved to another
location?
The results of this gambit were painful to bear. They still had no idea
where Sisbell was, and they had been found out.
“You won’t escape from me.”

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On top of the desk, the light on the landline was flicking on and off. Had
she notified all the guards? Mizerhyby must have just pressed it.

“My dear burglar, I believe you should give up on your friends—” The
princess of the Hydra stood up, full of grace. “Let us make a deal. I will allow
you and only you to live if you join my side.”

“…What did you say?”
“Isn’t this what the sorcerer seeks?” The beautiful girl flicked the sun-
shaped earring with her nail. “I’m interested to know how a man who has
been in prison for decades would know of our secrets. Pretend to escape from
this building and get it out of him, will you? And ask him how he knows of
the Gregorian Descant.”
“What?”
Something felt off.
What was this princess talking about?
…We just came to get Sisbell.
…What’s this Gregorian Descant? What does it have to do with Salinger?
Something wasn’t adding up. Iska had assumed she knew he was part of
an Imperial unit. But Mizerhyby had an entirely different perspective. With
Salinger attacking Snow and Sun, she had thought that they were working for
the sorcerer. They had read each other’s intentions incorrectly.
Iska had no idea what Mizerhyby was proposing.
“…What are you talking about?” Iska murmured to himself.
Mizerhyby clucked her tongue lightly. “Tsk.”
The clever princess had immediately picked up on the situation based on
Iska’s reaction. The intruder in front of her was not one of Salinger’s
assassins.
“It seems I’ve misinterpreted the situation. So you’re one of the Lou’s
mercenaries. Then the sorcerer outside is a complete coincidence, huh?” She
held her right hand in front of her and thrust her willowy finger toward Iska.
“A change of plans, then. I suppose I’ll have you disappear here and now.”
Lights burned in the twenty-four muzzles. Iska sliced through the rays of
condensed astral energy using his black sword.
“Did you just cut through the light?! How absurd…!” She held her breath.
“I know. Perhaps you might be the former Saint Disciple Iska? Vichyssoise
was uncharacteristically reluctant to report about you. You did quite a
number on her.”

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“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“And impertinent as well, I see… Well, I forgive you regardless.”
Mizerhyby’s eyes gleamed.
In that moment, the princess released astral light from her body, making
Iska back away reflexively. He had never seen anything like it before. It
seemed crushing, like it would force anything bathed in its light to yield.
“Huh! Is this Glory…?!”
“So you lived after fighting that Aliceliese. I’m looking forward to this. I
would like to hear the cries of someone as mighty as you.”
She wore a sadistic smile. Her tapering eyes narrowed like crescents, and
she extended her arms.
“I am Mizerhyby Hydra Nebulis IX; now, I shall show you the most
glorious power in this world.”

Snow and Sun.
They scrambled down the hidden staircase from the top floor, almost

tumbling over themselves.
“…The situation has gone from bad to worse,” spat out Nami, who was at

the front of the group. “I’m not sure if they anticipated Salinger’s attack.
Either way, it seems Lady Sisbell is not here. I am afraid they must have
moved her to another location. And to make matters worse, she was waiting
for us on the top floor…!”

“Don’t forget: They’ve also seen us,” Jhin said from behind her.
The camouflaging ability of Fog did not work when they moved faster
than four miles per hour. And since they were running as fast as they could
down the stairs, they were past the speed limitations.
“Even if this staircase will take us all the way to the first floor, they’ll see
us when we go through the hall there. You think we can force our way
through the crowd of guards?”
“I…”
“Shh. Nami, quiet.” Sistia had on a grave expression as she looked over
her head.
The floor above them. The wall had blasted away with the deafening

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sounds of an explosion. Black smoke billowed in. “The royal guards! They
aren’t normal soldiers! They’re Mizerhyby’s guards!”

“Of course they’d know about this hidden passageway. What do you want
to do? Should we get to the first floor or fight them… Hmm? …” Jhin
squinted. “What’s that light…?”

He was looking at three goggled royal guards—or rather the strangely
brilliant astral light that flickered behind them.

It was like it was dawn. The astral light, which burned their eyes, seemed
to be clinging to the guards’ backs.

“Hey, Nami, Sistia. Is that some sort of astral power?”
“…That’s…”
“That’s?” Jhin asked back.
“Dangerous. Please head down as quickly as you can. And don’t you dare
stop!” Nami shouted. “That’s the crest of Glory. It’s Mizerhyby’s power!
Those royal guards have been bequeathed it!”
“…What did you say?”
“Like Miss Rin said. Don’t ever attempt to fight Mizerhyby or the guards
that accompany her… It will never amount to a fair fight if you battle them
directly!” she yelled.
The two attendants each grabbed Nene’s and Mismis’s hands and ran.
“Now that you’ve mentioned it, you did tell us about that.”
He swung his sniper rifle, which he had been holding in his hands, around
to his back.
Several days ago, Rin had told them about Mizerhyby’s power.

“We do not have much information…”
“But Princess Mizerhyby’s Glory emits her own astral energy and
strengthens others’, supposedly.”

Just as plants grew under the sun, Mizerhyby could temporarily boost
others’ astral power to their highest potential using her light.

“According to rumors…on one battlefield, she created ten soldiers as
strong as the Founder’s descendants all on her own.”

“What?!”
“So she’s called the walking vortex. She’s one of the next queen

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candidates and, though it pains me to admit it, her power is seriously strong.”
Zing. Something had burst, accompanied by light.
“Crap! Get down!” Jhin had barely managed to yell when a bolt of

lightning—a beam of light—blew away the hidden staircase below their feet.

The Nebulis palace. The queen’s room in the Stardust Skyscraper.
This space had been passed down between queens for generations, starting

with the Sovereignty’s Founder.
“Any progress, Alice?”
“…No, Mother. We still haven’t received any word from the unit that

went to release Sisbell. If anything happens, Rin will send me a report.”
They were seated at a four-person table.
Alice was looking over documents alone with the queen. Rin had prepared

them to explain the plan to save Sisbell. These were copies. Unit 907 had
been given the masters.

“Rin never disappoints. She has every detail down from the blueprint of
Snow and Sun to the equipment carried by the Hydra’s personal soldiers. She
left out the unnecessary information and only selected what we need.”

“Rin said she borrows from your wisdom, Mother.”
“She just asked for my advice. There are many things I do not know. For
example…Princess Mizerhyby of the Hydra. I do not know much about her
astral power. The Hydra do not make much information public.”
Twitch. Alice’s eyebrow reflexively arched.
…That’s right. Rin said the same thing.
…That Mizerhyby might be the one guarding Sisbell.
But to presume too much was dangerous.
Even if her sister was in Snow and Sun, there were too many possibilities
and people who could be standing guard over her. She had told Unit 907 that
as well.
“I’m worried about one more thing,” Alice said. “About the report during
the meeting earlier.”
“About Salinger, yes?”
“…Yes.”

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The transcendental sorcerer was an atrocious felon who had attacked the
previous queen.

When Alice had found out he had an extensive history with her mother—
and an ill-fated one at that—she hadn’t been able to hide her surprise.

“I don’t know why the sorcerer would have attacked an establishment
owned by the Hydra. I doubt it has anything to do with Sisbell… Do you
have an idea why, Mother?”

“Unfortunately, I do not. What is that man thinking…?” In the seat next to
Alice, the queen weakly shook her head. “Since our separation thirty years
ago, I have not understood a single thing that has gone through his mind.
We’re no longer close, after all.”

A short silence. A slightly self-derisive smile formed on the queen’s face.
“I was unable to stop the Imperial attack, unable to stop them taking my
own daughters, and now I could not even dispel the ministers’ fears. I’m a
failure as a queen.”
“Oh. Mother, that’s—”
“I am not wallowing. I have a daughter I am proud of.”
“……”
“Whoever is chosen to become the new queen will determine the
Sovereignty’s future. I have a feeling that will be true.”
The Zoa and the Hydra were also after the throne.
If the Zoa were selected, they would launch an all-out war on the Empire.
Alice did not know what the Hydra intended, but if they were willing to usher
the Imperial forces into their country and go after the queen’s life, they had to
have been planning some great upheaval.
“As a mother, I pray that you do not lose, Alice. If you fail at the
conclave, the Sovereignty will be doomed to fall.”
“Mother, I’m also worried about the future. But…” Alice gently placed
her hand over her mother’s on the table. “You must continue to work hard,
Mother. Because I still have some unfinished business as a princess.”
“Such as?”
“First, Sisbell’s rescue. It would be laughable if a queen could not save
her own sister.”
Alice had been forced to realize that she never wanted to go through the
same thing again. She never wanted to feel the shock of seeing the queen and
her older sister get taken down by the Saint Disciple in the Queen’s Space—

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nor the blinding anger that had caused her to declare war on Iska. She’s had
enough of rage and grief, emotions that had made her lose sight of all reason.

“This is my choice. Though it may not be what you hoped for.”
This was the path that Aliceliese would walk down. It wouldn’t lead her
straight toward queenhood, but it would allow her to protect her little sister
and her mother as a princess.
Even if…that wasn’t the fastest route to becoming queen.
…And you’ve misread the situation direly, Talisman.
…You still haven’t realized something.
The Sovereignty still didn’t know the true strength of the swordsman
named Iska—the person Aliceliese Lou Nebulis IX had recognized as her one
and only rival.

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CHAPTER 6

Maiden of Dawn Ablaze

1

Snow and Sun. Uppermost floor.

Something felt weird.
Thinking back on it, Iska had this strange feeling festering in his chest
since they had this chance meeting.
…This princess.
…She’s full of openings. She’s just standing there.
Mizerhyby. The purebred.
With the giant window behind her, she spread her arms as astral energy
released from her body, bright like daybreak.
But that was it. He couldn’t detect any sign of that energy turning into an
astral attack.
“Now I will show you the most glorious power in the world.” Her lapis
lazuli hair seemed to catch wind.
It was coming. What Iska saw as he prepared himself wasn’t an astral
attack.
A soldier had dropped down. A soldier wearing a mask like a royal guard
had leaped down from the ceiling of the fifteenth story.
…From above?
…No way. I thought this was the top floor!
There had been a hidden level. He had really believed this was the
topmost floor. Even Sistia had been convinced of that; she had failed to
notice the additional person despite Echo.
“I will make you part of a glorious legion.” Mizerhyby touched the armed

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soldier’s back.
Iska heard something set ablaze. A mark like the one on Mizerhyby’s

forehead lit up the soldier like a halo.
“Let there be light—Glory.”

His vision went red.

The astral power of fire lit in the royal guard’s hand and flared, aiming for
Iska and the books indiscriminately.

Bookshelves turned right to ash. The windowpanes broke from the blast,
shattering into pieces and falling far below to the ground.

“Hmm. Seems like you’re kinda powerful. I powered you up by about
three levels.” Princess Mizerhyby smirked.

She slowly looked over the dividers that separated parts of the room.
Those had been blasted to pieces, the floor and ceiling of the fifteenth floor
charred.

“But you have no control. And without that, it’s a double-edged sword,
now that I’ve strengthened your astral power.”

“I apologize, Your Highness,” said the masked soldier in a voice that was
surprisingly young, delicate, and feminine. She was staring at her own palm.
“…Is this really my astral power?”

“It’s pleasant, isn’t it? Yes. Your astral power has been blessed to be a
level close to that of the Founder’s descendants.” Mizerhyby pushed away
the bangs covering her forehead, revealing the astral crest like she were
showing it off.

“Now, rise, former Saint Disciple. How long will you pretend to be
fallen?” The witch had a luminescence as brilliant as dawn, and her lips
formed a smile exuding joy and dripping with contempt. She pointed at the
piled rubble. “Vichyssoise told me that if I face you, I mustn’t assume I have
won. She said I must treat you like you’re alive even if you’ve fallen, even if
you’ve stopped breathing, even if I tear you up into five or six pieces.”

“…Now that’s mortifying.”
The pile collapsed audibly. Iska pushed away the rubble pressing on his
shoulders and stood from the charred floor.
“What?! But there were so many flames—”

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“Shush,” the princess scolded her subordinate. “Huh. You really are alive.
I asked just to see if I could trick you. It was worth asking, it seems. I’m
pleased. Could you possibly be immortal?”

“Of course not. And I didn’t pretend to just fall down, either.”
He almost started coughing, but he stopped himself by force. He’d inhaled
soot and smoke, which made his throat smart violently. His hair was
plastered to his forehead, probably glued down by the blood oozing from
there.
…Did Mizerhyby’s power create that explosion?
…Oh, wait. The flames came from the soldier next to Mizerhyby.
Iska hadn’t been prepared. Though Rin had told him about Glory, Iska
was drawing a blank. The information had been zapped from his brain from
this short interaction, and he needed to start defining this power from scratch.
There was a possibility that the purebred’s power was far more dangerous
than anything in Rin’s explanations.
…She strengthens the powers of her followers?
…Oh, please! It isn’t something so weak.
He had never seen flames of that magnitude.
Even the mages from the astral corps could barely manage to light an
Imperial military vehicle ablaze. They didn’t have the power to level an
entire floor easily several hundred square yards in size.
“Are you trying to investigate my power? It seems you have enough
knowledge of astral power, former Saint Disciple. But the more knowledge
you have, the more your speculation grows and the further off course you
go.”
The astral crest on Mizerhyby’s forehead was a deep purple. Its shape was
warped, radiating out from a single point. Nowhere in Imperial datastores had
anything similar been listed.
“How about you disappear while you think it over?” This was
Mizerhyby’s decree.
Another person arrived from the hole in the ceiling. Another royal guard
covered in flameproof clothing. The astral crest of Glory burned bright on
their back.
“…There were others?!”
And she had already powered up this person. The two royal guards spread
out their arms, and a loud noise rang out in Iska’s ears as dozens of lights

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appeared on the floor.
“Are these mines?!”
They were directed ballistics.
Flames scattered in all directions except directly behind him. The power

was designed to annihilate everything other than the mage controlling the
fire.

Another explosion.
The blast peeled back the floor, flipping it over right from under Iska’s
feet. The ceiling was ravaged by the flames, melting before his eyes. He
could barely breathe through the heat wave and the dense cloud of soot and
smoke.
“Hmm. Maybe that was overdoing it. Preparing a legion of two to receive
one mercenary might have been a bit much,” Mizerhyby said.
Though the royal guards flanking her sides were average fire astral mages,
their skills had been boosted to the highest levels when they were showered
in Glory. This was why Mizerhyby was called the walking vortex. Those
loved by Princess Mizerhyby could be given power that set them on the level
of the Founder’s descendants and become part of her Legion of Dawn.
“The two of you can go down. If the Lou’s attendant is taken, then our
victor—”
“You really think that?”
A white blade cut through the smoke.
Iska leaped, holding his breath. The fiery winds would have scorched his
lungs had he inhaled. In one bound, he slipped past the two guards and
headed right up to Mizerhyby.
“…You survived that?!”
He had needed five minutes.
Just like he didn’t know much about Mizerhyby’s power, Mizerhyby
didn’t know about the white astral sword. It invoked the hellfire that Iska had
sliced through, creating a wall from the resulting air current. He had
intercepted the blast from the mines.
“You think you stopped me?”
“…Both of you!”
Before Iska could close the distance between them, Princess Mizerhyby
launched herself off the ground in a hurry.
That single step had made the difference.

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Iska’s sword, impeded by her subordinates, just barely cut through the
empty air.

“Aw, so close,” she taunted.
“This is what I wanted.”
“Huh?” Mizerhyby’s mocking smile disappeared.
The sword had caught on something, even though she had thought she had
made it out safe. Something yellow and cut in the shape of the sun…
“My earring?!”
“You called this the Gregorian Descant, right?”
He had no idea what that meant, but he knew the earring held an
important secret.
Iska’s hunch turned into belief when he saw Mizerhyby’s indignation.
…I was right.
…There’s something going on with this earring!
That was why the princess had kept it on her person at all times. This was
how she had prepared for Salinger’s raid.
“Curse you!”
“Let’s strike a deal,” Iska suggested.
Before the royal guards could lift their hands, he threw himself into the
black smoke and disappeared.
“The Hydra should know exactly what we’re after. Don’t forget that.”
Iska ran like he never had before.
His destination? The first floor. All to escape the building.

2

Snow and Sun. The astral power engineering and research institute.
In general, the flames generated by the astral power died out after a few

minutes. Even if the flames raged and painted the lawn red, it would never
result in a massive fire.

However…when astral energy crystallized to make an astral flame, it was
different. Minutes could pass, but until the astral power disappeared, the
flames would never go out.

It was an invincible flame.

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“Ah-ha, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha. You fool!”

A dome of violet flames.
Bewitching, inhuman laughter bounced off the barrier made of
inextinguishable astral flames.
“That won’t even tickle me. I’ve already told you that!”
A whirlwind like a tornado had formed around them. The figure of a girl
leaped out from the wind that could blast an Imperial tank into bits.
Vichyssoise the witch.
Even when the blades of wind lacerated her thighs and neck, not a drop of
blood flowed from her body, which was semi-transparent like glass.
“There! Burn!” She chucked a ball of violet flames.
If one were to touch them, the flames would rage until the person was
reduced to nothing. The most terrifying fireball in the world. And it was
coming toward Salinger.
“Comical.”
She was going up against the transcendental sorcerer.
“You’re content with the flames like that?”
The handsome man didn’t move a step, simply dug the balls of his feet
against the ground.
Grrrrah! The ground groaned, heaving up and down, as an earth golem
emerged from it. Salinger used it as a shield to stand between the astral
flames.
“Don’t soil me with those flames. They’re dirty.”
The burning golem was on the move, taking the astral flames and
swinging its gigantic fist at the witch. However…
“Get out of the way.” Vichyssoise flung her arm, bringing the golem
down. The melting point of soil was almost two thousand degrees. The clods
of earth forming the golem couldn’t hold up to the astral flames and melted
into lava.
“Aren’t these flames wonderful?” Vichyssoise held out the palm of her
hand. The flames burning there were as beautiful as a budding violet flower.
“Astral mages cannot produce these flames. Even the royal family who are
the descendants of the Founder, even the most powerful astral mages, cannot
create them.”

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“……”
“It’s fate. A mere mage can’t win against a witch who has fused with
astral power. It’s only logical.”
The violet petals fluttered.
The astral flames decomposed midair and turned into hundreds of lights
that poured down on him. Making contact with even one of them would mean
bursting into flames. And if he caught on fire, Salinger would have no way to
extinguish it.
“So you’re a one-trick pony.” Salinger had invoked an ice shield around
him.
The twelve blue pieces of armor took on the violet lights. The energy
collided into it, canceling each other out.
…Sizzle. The ice melted. In the next moment, there was a clear sound as
all twelve shields melted and disappeared at once.
“Tsk.” Salinger went on the move.
More accurately, he had been forced to move. He used his powerful legs
to leap up and out of the way to the side. The light passed his cheek by a
mere fraction of an inch.
“Don’t you understand how different we are?” Vichyssoise asked. She
watched the retreating sorcerer, her eyes narrowing into crescents. She spoke
like she was toying with him. “Word of your Water Mirror has long since
spread. You’ve stolen over a hundred astral powers; you’re feared by the
royal family. But you can only steal half the actual power. Which basically
means you have a collection of odds and ends.”
“……”
“Well, then I’ll—”
“That’s enough. No need to talk. I fear your stupidity is contagious, and I
might catch it.” He grew bored—or at least, that’s what his attitude implied.
The man with white hair huffed. “So you’re not even close to having good
judgment and etiquette. Most of all, you lack elegance. I thought that if the
head of household was around, this would amount to something, but here I
am met with a mere wench.”
They were barely twenty yards apart, far enough that their words weren’t
guaranteed to reach each other. Salinger told the inhuman girl, “Thirty years
ago, I faced a monster who was exactly the same as you. I just came here to
confirm that. You think there’s a difference in power? Have you shown me

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anything yet?”
“Oh, you can be so amusing.”
Astral light burned in the witch’s hand. It wasn’t violet. This was her

actual power.
“I was still holding back. It would be boring if I burned you with astral

flame and that was it. I’ll crush you with one of my Magic Shots.”
“Trifling.” Salinger cracked his neck.
As though he were looking at a fallen pebble on the ground, he appeared

incredibly disillusioned.
“This stage is—”

A crash echoed through Snow and Sun.

A wall blew open. Window glass shattered. The earsplitting sound even
reached the astral flame dome that surrounded them.

“Is that coming from the top floor?” Salinger scowled.
“Mizerhyby, what do you think you’re doing at a time like this?!” The
witch bit her lip and stared up at the epicenter of this explosion. “…Is it the
Imperial unit? No way. Not at a time like this—”
“O Terra Burst.”
Astral light appeared from the sorcerer’s palm. Vichyssoise had made a
bad move when she got distracted by Snow and Sun.
“Awaken. Pierce the heavens with your wrath,” Salinger stated.
The earth overturned. Not just the surface layer. The planet churned deep
below its crust. With enough force to send cars flying like ping-pong balls,
the earth swelled and flung the witch out of the astral flames.
“Guh?!”
The barrier was broken, and Vichyssoise shot through the air into the
third-floor wall of Snow and Sun.
She didn’t look injured.
Since she was outside her barrier, however, the dome quickly weakened,
and its flames extinguished.
“You see now? I can take out those flames in more ways than I can
count.”
“…You! You think I would let you leave?!”

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“How unsightly. It seems all you do is bark.” Salinger didn’t pay any
mind to the witch who was attempting to pry herself from the building wall.
He stepped toward the front doors.

There were no guards. They had been flung aside by Terra Burst. Not a
single one of them was standing on their feet.

“Well, now that’s odd. I’m sure the Gregorian Descant is on the top floor.
Likely in his room.”

But the earlier explosion had come from within the top floor. The walls
had caved in. Debris continued to rain down on him.

The sorcerer’s voice lowered slightly. “Who is that? Who are the other
intruders who came ahead of me?”

Snow and Sun. Fifteenth floor.
He made his way out of the dense black smoke and headed for the hidden

staircase. There, Iska saw the never-ending spiral stairway—and its central
pole warped out of shape and burned.

Just minutes ago, he had used those steps to go up.
“No way… What happened?”
He leaped down the partially destroyed stairs. Each time he went down a
step, the metal creaked, and the stairway seemed to wobble. It would collapse
any minute now.
…This isn’t the flame produced by the royal guard in the room. It’s other
astral power.
…In which case, Commander Mismis and the others must be in danger!
Were they safe? Had they been able to escape or—
Crunch. Under Iska’s feet was a white carpet of snow.
Snow? In a skyscraper?
“This is astral power, too!” He quickly dove off the snow.
As if they were following him, snow soldiers leaped out from the pile of
snow, carrying ice lances sharp enough to be mistaken for metal, which they
thrust at Iska’s back.
“Snow golems,” he said.
They’d skewer him through. Before they could, Iska turned back and

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sliced through their weapons using his astral sword.
“Oh? So we did have an Imperial soldier who escaped us. It’s you.”
Below, there was an elderly woman in bright red clothes standing with

open arms as if she were welcoming Iska as he came flying down the stairs.
“Former Saint Disciple. Iska, is it?”
“…The Witch of the Midnight Sun?!”
She was one of Talisman’s royal guards. A big shot who had made it onto

the Imperial headquarters’ witch list. He had heard the elderly woman had
attacked the villa owned by the Lou from Jhin.

…Just my luck! Running into her here?!
…It’s no joke. I don’t have the time to fight in the middle of the enemy’s
base.
He was fighting to get out, not to kill. Now that he had determined Sisbell
wasn’t there, his mission was only to escape the building.
“Boy, do you want to know what has happened to your friends?”
“Not interested.”
Iska ran down the stairs. That was what she’d been waiting for. The snow
crashed toward him. It attached itself to the stair poles like a living organism.
Krish. The handrail and pole were crushed before his eyes.
“Are you trying to flatten me?!”
“That’s the easiest method to deal with you.”
The stairs collapsed. With a deafening sound, they broke apart, turning to
rubble, and fell tens of yards below, rushing down like a waterfall.
“…Damn it!”
His footing had been destroyed. He thrust his sword into the wall and
barely stopped himself from plunging down.
“Are you planning on clinging to the wall? Well, I expected that.”
He heard the sound of something large slithering. When Iska looked up,
the snow on the wall had turned into a giant snake that was slowly rearing its
head. The Witch of the Midnight Sun stood on its head, looking down at him.
“You’re out of moves. I would like to watch you like this for longer, but I
have a grudge to settle with your friends. I need to hurry and stop them.”
The snow snake opened its maw. From deep in its cavernous split mouth
appeared a lance as big as a log.
“Pierce him.”
“…Gah!”

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The weapon shot at him like a bombshell. He had no way of avoiding it
from where he clung to the wall. His sword was still stuck. So, Iska kicked
away from the wall, still holding his lodged sword.

When the spear hit the wall, Iska was already gone.
Because he’d leaped into the air.
There was no handrail or floor waiting for him. Just air. He plummeted
dozens of yards.
“You jumped? So you choose suicide?!”
“Yeah, right.”
He let gravity pull him. Then, Iska’s fall stopped abruptly. Sharp metal
screeched.
A light—the one footing he had been able to use. The light was connected
to the wall.
“Ngh?! Soldiers!”
The gigantic snow snake broke apart midair.
It turned into dozens of human-shaped soldiers that flung their lances at
Iska. However…Iska had made a decision long before those could reach him.
“Hah!” He breathed out as he cut though the metal wall. A hole revealed a
hidden door—an exit that led from the staircase back to the floor.
“There’s a light here, so I knew there had to be a door around, too.”
“Ah… Curse you, Saint Disciple!”
“I’ll fight you on the battlefield.”
He headed into Snow and Sun from the hidden door and ended up on the
eighth floor. The layouts of the second to fourteenth floors were basically the
same. They were there to do astral power research and were mostly divided
into research and experimentation rooms.
…Seven floors until the ground level.
…This is where it gets dangerous. How am I going to get to the first
floor?
Though he’d shaken off the Witch of the Midnight Sun, nothing about his
situation had changed.

“An intruder is currently prowling the eighth floor.”
“All researchers should take shelter. Guards will immediately come to
apprehend him.”

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“Damn it, it’s the surveillance cameras!”
He clucked his tongue at the emergency announcement and broke into a
run. He had to choose one of two methods to get down: the elevator or the
general use stairs.
The elevator? That would be absurd. As soon as the doors opened, there
would be soldiers with guns waiting to fill him with lead.
“…Guess it’s the stairs again.”
He headed to the center stairs. Unlike the narrow spiral staircase, this
space was made large enough for dozens of people to walk down them at
once. Except not a single soul was there.
…No one’s here? That’s ridiculous.
…There were dozens of guards below.
The researchers were hiding. But what about the guards? There was no
way they wouldn’t have lookouts there.
He headed from the eighth floor to the seventh, then from the seventh
floor to the sixth.
He hadn’t run into a single guard even after he’d landed on the fifth floor.
Why?
If the story about Salinger attacking were true, maybe they were focusing
their troops on him?
No.
“…She would want to get this back.”
In Iska’s pocket was the earring the princess had called the Gregorian
Descant. She wouldn’t hold anything back to retrieve it. So, maybe he hadn’t
run into soldiers because they still hadn’t gotten here yet.
Or they had already surrounded him.
“…But can’t get close or they’ll get caught up in whatever this is!”
He made a decision. He abandoned going down the stairs. Iska decided to
go back to the hallways of the building and prepared himself to run into
soldiers as he left the stairs—

Right behind him rumbled a violent sound like thunder.

Clap, clap. He heard humble applause from the intersection of this open
hallway.

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“Two more seconds.”
He heard the sound of shoes right after. Past where the hall intersected, he
heard a girl’s elegant voice.
“Just two more seconds. If you had stopped at the stairs, I could have
killed you.”
“……”
“I underestimated you. I followed Vichyssoise’s advice; I didn’t let my
guard down in the slightest. But I misunderstood her warning. It wasn’t
enough not to be careless.”
A light like a star twinkled, approaching him. It was a purebred, a perfect
representative of the Hydra bloodline.
“Ngh, you…”
“Oh, you mean this? This is what happens when I get upset.”
Mizerhyby. The maiden of dawn.
Iska had lost the ability to speak when he saw the transformation that had
overcome the beautiful girl. Her long lapis lazuli hair was swept in all
directions from the astral energy that she emanated. Tendrils of her hair
writhed like serpents. She looked almost exactly like Medusa, the legendary
monster.
“Would you be so kind as to return the earring you stole?”
“Is this your attempt at negotiating?”
“No.”
She had once worn the simpering smile of a maiden, a smile as calm and
collected as Talisman’s. That had disappeared.
“Since you’ve messed everything up, I’ll just steal it from you by force!”
Her footsteps sounded explosive. Iska’s clothes billowed from the wind
pressure as Mizerhyby approached.
“O Glory, the sun goddess’s path—astral power, lead me.”
“So that’s your astral power?!”
There was an explosiveness to her that no ordinary person would have.
Mizerhyby’s astral power, which had been shrouded in mystery, finally
became clear to Iska.
…It’s not an astral power that gives astral energy!
…The true power lets her control the people she’s strengthened!
In exchange for power, she made them obey her. In order to strengthen the
astral mages, they had to have been brainwashed slightly. And now,

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Mizerhyby was likely yielding to her own power for this battle. In return, she
had gained immense physical strength.

However…
“Now…,” Mizerhyby began.
“You’re too slow.”
She halted in her tracks.
As she tried to lower her arm, Iska stopped her from the side by smacking
his pommel against her right elbow.
“Guuh?!”
“Don’t underestimate a Saint Disciple.”
“…You grate my nerves. Had I touched you with a single finger, you
would have been unconscious!” Mizerhyby held her swollen elbow and
leaped back.
Iska pursued her.
“Shriek! Scream,” Mizerhyby commanded.
A sound, like a gong ringing in his eardrums, was amplified as Iska
stepped forward. It wasn’t the wind.
“Ugh… Sound, huh…?”
The vertigo and nausea from being shaken made him spit up blood. A
sonic wave shook his ears. People hit with maximum Sound would lose their
sense of balance, making it impossible to keep upright. They could even lose
consciousness. The Imperial forces also had a sonic-wave weapon, which had
been inspired by this astral attack.
And Mizerhyby had strengthened it with her power.
“Think of this as an honor, Imperial soldier.”
The princess’s smile was gruesome. She had broken into a cold sweat
from her swollen elbow and the pain that came with it. Her eyes opened wide
enough to send shivers down his spine.
“I’ve built my troops. I cannot believe stopping one soldier has led me to
these lengths— Now, howl!”
At the very back of the hall, a royal guard leaped out, strengthened by
Glory, before howling.
Crack. The astral power of Shriek broke the windows one after another.
The main issue was that it was sound. And since sounds were diffused
into the walls and ceilings, Iska couldn’t cut it with his sword.
“…Now you’ve done it!” He’d lost his sense of balance to the point he

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couldn’t even run. Almost on all fours, he leaped off the floor and headed
into a room ahead of him.

This was an astral power research center. Since the experimentation
rooms had to be airtight, if he could just close the door, that would block off
the sounds.

…This is the only way to escape it.
…But that’s basically the same as me being stuck in this room.
Mizerhyby’s legion was on the other side of the door. As soon as he
opened the door, they would flood in like an avalanche. Iska was preparing
for that as, from his right side, from the other side of the floor, he heard a
strange creaking sound.
“So now you’re blowing your way in?!”
The thick wall turned bright red. It was explosive fire.
The explosion from the next room over broke the wall into bits that
pummeled Iska. The rubble was like machine gun fire, having been
accelerated by the blast. It struck him in the shoulder, hard.
“Ow…”
“That’s not all. This isn’t all my legion can do.”
Breaking apart the walls that separated the experimentation rooms,
Mizerhyby leaped in from the dust, controlling five of her legion.
“Hellfire!”
A tidal wave of bright red flooded his vision. However, Iska had already
seen this on the top floor. Before the fire could reach him, he cut through the
void using his black astral sword.
Then there was an explosion. The fire split in two around Iska and charred
the floor and walls.
“I almost died before. I kinda had no choice but to remember this
hellfire.”
He held his white astral sword in a backhanded grip. Iska raised it with his
left hand, ripping up through space.
An astral release.
He released the hellfire that his black sword had intercepted. The tidal
wave coursed Mizerhyby and her legion. It was a perfect recreation of it. The
stronger the astral power, the stronger the white astral sword would be when
its power was released.
“What an eyesore.” Through the flames, the astral light of Dawn twinkled.

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“Tempest, blow him away!”
The greatest source of energy in this world came from a natural disaster—

not lightning, not volcanic eruption, not even an earthquake, but a violent
windstorm.

That storm became Mizerhyby’s shield, extinguishing the hellfire. It
pushed Iska back as he had tried to approach her, pressing him into the wall
behind him.

“A wind barrier…so your legion’s even got defenses.”
“You puny little soldier! Stop making me try too hard. How much power
will you force me to use just to get back my stolen earring…?!”
The witch’s hair stood on end as she stepped closer to him.
Her eyes and tone made her seem like a different person. Her expression
had gone from exuding the gentleness of the spring sun to the harshness of
the desert sun threatening to dry the vegetation.
“Die already.”
“You wish.” Iska forced himself up and wiped his bleeding lip with the
back of his hand.
…This princess.
…She’s impossibly strong.
She was too fast. Having one purebred releasing five attacks wasn’t nearly
as fast as five individuals attacking one at a time. That was what gave
Mizerhyby’s Legion of Dawn so much value.
The Imperial forces had assumed they should simply be cautious of the
threat Mizerhyby posed.
When she had a legion with her, however, she had to be one of the
strongest powers in the Nebulis Sovereignty.
“Now I need to report another thing to headquarters. If I get home alive.”
He glared at each of the approaching six people in turn—Princess
Mizerhyby and the formation of five subordinates to her sides.
“Attack—and don’t hold back. I do not mind even if you break the
earring. Just obliterate that boy from here without a trace.” She swung her
right hand. “Now!”
It all happened at once.
With Mizerhyby’s command, the five Legion of Dawn used all their astral
power.
And Iska reacted to their attacks.

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And then…

…The air exploded between them.

A whirlwind flashing with lightning blasted through the area suddenly.
All the walls on the floor were riddled with holes and started to collapse.

“…What?!”
“Wh-what is this?!”
Iska and Mizerhyby both turned at the same time.
As it crackled, lightning raced low over the floor and the wind swept up
the debris on the ground. Their vision was filled, turning a sandy color, and
they couldn’t see much ahead of them.
…This isn’t one of Mizerhyby’s legion. What just happened?
…No, don’t get distracted. There’s no time to think!
Iska cut through the thick dust, narrowly avoiding a coughing fit, and
launched himself off the ground before immediately starting to run. This
wasn’t the battlefield. Getting out of the building was the priority.
He turned away from Princess Mizerhyby and sprinted. He leaped out of
the room in seconds and ran through the hallway with the twister pressing at
his back.

As the wind kicked up clouds of dust, Iska passed by someone.

“Hmm?”
“…Huh?”
The two of them turned toward each other, but they could barely make
each other out.
A researcher?
One of Mizerhyby’s subordinates?
He had no way of finding out. Iska ran to the emergency stairs.

Snow and Sun. Central stairs. Fourth floor.

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“That…senile sorcerer. When will he stop being so arrogant?!”
“Hmm? I was wondering who it was. It’s you,” Salinger sneered, looking
down on the witch who yelled at him from far below.
He had spotted a redhead scowling at him. Her white thighs were exposed
beneath the hem of her coat because she wasn’t wearing anything under it.
He didn’t recognize her.
But he did recognize her voice.
“Ha-ha, how comical. So you hastened to return to a human form? You
wouldn’t want to expose your disgraceful appearance to the researchers in
this building, I suppose.”
“Shut up and stay put. I’ll come get you in no time!”
“Someone’s cheeky.”
Vichyssoise ran ferociously up the stairs. Salinger didn’t wait for her. He
raised his right hand, which glowed with astral light.
“I have grown tired of your face.”
Water Mirror had the ability to transcend and boost the stolen astral
powers to new levels.
—A Sanctus of lightning and wind.
The air seemed to writhe.
Earsplitting thunder boomed, and lightning blasted away the walls and the
floor Vichyssoise stood on.
“Gah?!”
Wind and lightning. The unusual combination of these two astral powers
made Vichyssoise even forget to breathe. The wind stopped her movements
and the lightning assaulted her body.
“Disappear.”
“…I’ll have……you remember…how…frightening…a true witch can
be!”
Vichyssoise pitched down from the window.
But the electrical storm did not stop there. It brought down the walls
between the rooms of the fifth floor, unilaterally striking the mercenaries
employed by the Hydra with lightning.
Even the floors turned to dust.
“Was that her sad attempt at cursing me out?” Salinger scoffed at her last
words and headed through the floor.
A cloud of dust greeted him.

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He saw something else ahead, approaching him, before he had even
walked a few steps.

Who was it? Someone frightfully agile.
When Salinger sensed the presence and turned toward it, it was already
right in front of his eyes.

Whoever it was ran past him as fast as the wind.

All that was left was a swirl of dust and a vague memory of a humanoid
shape.

Salinger had no desire to speculate. If soldiers came to him, he would
show no forgiveness, but it went against his principles to pursue someone
running past him.

More importantly…there was a more wonderful adversary waiting in his
way within this building.

“That blue hair… Yes, I believe I remember hearing about it.”
He’d caught one look at the girl in the dust. His mouth turned up in a
smirk. His laughter was derisive—a jeer.
“Mizerhyby Hydra Nebulis IX. The successor of the Hydra, huh.”
“…I see I have another guest.” The girl combed her fingers through her
bangs, like she wanted to show off her astral crest. “I won’t ask who you are.
This might be the first time we’re meeting, but my dear uncle has told me so
much about you. I was wondering where you could have gone after you
disappeared from the prison spire.”
“Oh?”
“I suppose you’re after the Gregorian Descant? What if I told you it’s not
here?” The stand-in for the head of household, Mizerhyby touched her own
ear. “It was stolen. By someone a step ahead of you.”
“…What?”
“I almost had it back. Was that your astral power earlier? What a horrible
nuisance it was.”
“I see. Well then.” The lips of the conspicuously beautiful man curled.
“Then let my correct myself. Produce the true descant for me.”
“Wha—?!”
“The experiments conducted by the Hydra produce the wildest of beasts.

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And the descant records them. You think I believe that you allowed that to be
stolen? Don’t play dumb. That was a replica with a fragment of what was
recorded. What I want is the original.”

The man looked down on the girl biting her lip. Though Mizerhyby was
tall enough to be a model, the sorcerer was a whole head taller than her.

“……” She looked down, silently clenching her hands into fists.
And…
“Does everyone here want to get on my nerves?!”
Light exploded. Princess Mizerhyby’s body stirred with a glimmer like a
vortex. Her lapis lazuli hair whipped around in the wind.
“You wretched sorcerer! You crawled back into the real world, but you’re
nothing now. I’ll show you where you stand compared to the royal
bloodline!”
“I can’t bear to even listen to you.” The white-haired man issued an
exasperated sigh in reply. “Dignity does not lie in blood but in principle. You
grew overconfident with the strong astral powers that you were gifted at birth
and have lost the desire to improve yourself. How is that royal?”
“Now you’ve said it.”
“Let me tell you something. Don’t speak back to me when you have
nothing other than royal blood.”
Salinger. The transcendental sorcerer.
What made him transcendental was his ambition to transcend the royalty.
There had only ever been one—only one person he considered an equal—
a girl from thirty years ago. Other than that, he believed everyone else was
below him.

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“So, is the real descant on the top floor?
“Like I’d let you leave. You end here!” shrieked the princess.
A wave of astral energy surged from the broken windows and shook
Snow and Sun.

3

Nebulis Sovereignty. Suburbs of the central state.
The astral power research center was still burning and enveloped in

smoke. Several hundred people who had sniffed out the commotion had
gathered around the iron fencing surrounding the grounds. The rubberneckers
approaching the place were largely news reporters and the military police
who had come to control the situation. In addition to them was an assassin
from the Zoa who had come to survey the destruction of the Hydra’s facility.

“I’ve arrived at the scene.”
“How does it look, Shanorotte?”
“Hmm…not good. All I can tell is that Snow and Sun is burning. And the
top floor is especially horrendous. And the fifth floor, I think. There’s black
smoke billowing out every window, but I can’t tell what’s happening at all.”
“And the sorcerer?”
“No signs of him. And the reporters are so noisy, I can’t tell what the
military police are saying.”
She opened her palms like it was out of her hands. The woman with
golden hair holding the communications device with a strained smile was
Shanorotte Gregory.
The former Imperial captain of Special Defense Third Division. More
accurately, the spy for the Zoa who had snuck her way into the Imperial
forces. Her identity had been exposed at the Mudor Canyon, so she had
returned home. Here she was now.
“And the Hydra’s staff? Do you see Mizerhyby, the next in line?”
“I really can’t say.” She twirled her permed hair around her finger. “There
are witness reports of the sorcerer forcing his way into the building. They
might be having a heroic battle, right now, throwing daggers and all that
stuff.”

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“That would be precious footage.”
“No, no, no. I can’t get into the building, and even if I could, someone as
puny as me couldn’t face up to them.”
One was a descendant of the Founder. The other was a sorcerer who had
attacked the previous queen. Shanorotte didn’t want to get involved in the
fight.
“So, I propose withdrawing.”
“Someone’s eager to give up.”
“Think of it as a strategic retreat. I don’t think we have much to gain here
with the rubberneckers around. At least not from the scene.”
She tucked the communications device away in her pocket and turned
around, heading to the café where her subordinates were waiting. Just as she
was about to head out, suddenly, she heard hurried footsteps coming from
behind her from Snow and Sun.
“Captain, over here! We’re mingling into the crowd and leaving the
suburbs.”
A boy’s voice.
And she heard several other footsteps immediately behind her as well.
“I—I know, but the crowd…”
“Are you okay, Captain?”
“Uh, uh-huh! I’m fine, you can keep running ahead of me, Iska! You’ve
the most injured out of all of us, so you should go back to get them treated
right away— Ah!”
“Whoa?!”
Someone had run into Shanorotte’s back.
They were trying to run through the crowd and likely hadn’t been paying
attention to where they were going.
The other person was flung back from the impact. Shanorotte had a rather
large build, after all, and she had trained up as a captain of the Imperial
forces. A petite girl seemed to have run into her.
“Oh, sorry. I’m always told I have a big frame.”
She thought it was a child.
She turned and offered a hand.
“……Huh?”
Shanorotte’s smile froze with her hand still held out. What she saw was a
girl with light blue hair, an adorable baby face, and childlike limbs.

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However…Shanorotte knew she was actually a fully grown adult, despite
her appearance. That was because when Shanorotte had been a spy in the
Imperial forces…

“…Mismis?”
“Huh? Noro?!” The girl who had turned to look at her also opened her
eyes wide.
She, too, was part of the Imperial forces, one Mismis Klass from Unit
907. In the past, they had been colleagues and friends—or so Shanorotte had
pretended to her sworn enemy.

“Noro…Where’s the…real Noro?”
“Ha-ha-ha, I can’t believe it. Shanorotte Gregory was born and raised in
the Nebulis Sovereignty. I’ve been the one and only Shanorotte since you and
I met.”

Why?
Why was an Imperial commander in the Sovereignty, and why in the
central state?
“Mismis!” She reached her hand out in a daze. She couldn’t understand
what had led to this, but an Imperial commander was an enemy no less. She
reached out to grab Mismis’s collar.
“Hey, boss, over here.”
“Uh, uh-huh!” Mismis came back to her senses and immediately made a
break for it. She took advantage of her small stature, slipping through the
gaps of the crowd to get away.

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With her large frame, Shanorotte couldn’t pull such a feat herself.
“W-wait! Catch that woman! She’s an Imperial subject!”
Not a single person reacted.
Shanorotte’s voice disappeared into the noise around her. The military
police had their hands full dealing with Snow and Sun.
Unable to do anything, the spy, Shanorotte, could only watch as the back
of her former colleague from her Imperial days got smaller and smaller.

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EPILOGUE 1

Why Does This Keep Happening?!

“Humph. It seems you’ve survived, Imperial swordsman.”
As soon as Rin saw him, she clucked her tongue in contempt. That had

happened just as soon as Iska had settled onto the sofa to rest upon returning
to the hotel room. Rin had come racing over from the palace. Upon her
arrival, she threw a paper bag at him.

“Take it.”
“H-hey?! Didn’t you hear that I’m injured?!”
“That contains disinfectant for burn wounds as well as pain pills.”
“…Thanks.”
He meekly took the bag. She must have bought those things at a pharmacy
before coming over to the hotel. They were all brand-new and fully sealed.
“I’ll send you an invoice later.”
“What?!”
“I kid.”
“…Could you not say that with a deadpan voice?” He let out a big sigh.
Rin took a look around the living room. “Nami and Sistia are safe,
correct?”
“They’re doing fine, just like our message said. They’re changing in the
next room. Commander Mismis is with them, so they should be back soon.”
“Okay,” Rin said and nodded, and then she folded her arms and looked up
at the ceiling. “…I’ve reported that to Lady Alice as well. That while you
weren’t able to locate Lady Sisbell, you did find her attendant taken captive
in the underground level.”
“Yeah, we have photos for evidence.”
“That should help Lady Alice. She’ll be mobilized to do a compulsory
investigation by Her Majesty. The servants of the Lou were captured by the

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Hydra. Once this incident has come to light, that should shake up Talisman’s
foothold.”

But it still wasn’t definitive. The Hydra had been the masterminds that
invited the Imperial forces into the Sovereignty—and until that was made
clear, it meant nothing.

“So, there was something that bothered me. What’s going on with Snow
and Sun? The TV broadcast didn’t show the outskirts of the grounds.”

“There was a fire in a building. Astral powers should disappear after a few
minutes. I’d be surprised if that had all been astral power.”

“All those flames likely came from the princess.”
Iska meant the stand-in for the head of household, Mizerhyby. Her Legion
of Dawn included a flame astral mage. Iska had witnessed a fire like he’d
never before seen decimate an entire floor.
“I wish you’d told us more about Princess Mizerhyby.”
“Hmm?”
“She was ridiculously powerful. She wasn’t just powering up others’
astral powers.”
“Obviously.”
Why was he saying that now? Rin seemed to ask. She looked nonplussed.
“Talisman is attempting to back her for the conclave. It’s likely she will
vie with Lady Alice for the queen’s throne in the future.”
“In that case, you really should have—”
“You think the Hydra would reveal their hand? Even if Lady Alice and I
know the general gist of Mizerhyby’s astral power, we didn’t know her actual
skills.”
“…I see.”
The royal family of the Nebulis Sovereignty fought blood for blood with
their own family. Until they could capture the throne, they wouldn’t give the
other royal families the advantage of knowing intel about them in advance.
Mizerhyby’s astral power was part of that.
“And I have one more thing to ask,” Rin said. “What happened to him? If
you broke into that building, I’m sure you must have seen him.”
“Him?”
“Salinger, obviously.”
“…So about that.” Iska shook his head. “Was that really Salinger? You’re
absolutely sure?”

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“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well…I heard the servants say his name, too,” Iska said. “But when I got
to the top floor, there was an explosion on the grounds.”
“So you didn’t see him?”
“I didn’t see any sign of him at all.”
The transcendental sorcerer’s appearance had been burned into his mind.
He wouldn’t miss the man if they had run into each other in the building.
“You’re sure you’re not mistaken? You’re sure it wasn’t someone else?”
“Humph…” Now Rin was the one scowling. “The queen did tell us that
she doubted his involvement. I can find out by retrieving the data from the
surveillance cameras of Snow and Sun… Well, no matter. So, anyway.”
She turned partly around, looking bitter. “I’ve been wondering, what are
those two doing?”
She glanced pointedly at the table in the back.
Nene and Jhin were silently fast at work. The two of them were so
absorbed in what they were doing, they didn’t even hear Iska and Rin’s
conversation.
“Jhin, you done yet?”
“Don’t rush me. We’re trying to pry the thing open. It’s over if we crush
the contents by being too rough.”
Jhin held a sun-shaped earring, driving a screwdriver tip as thin as a
needle into the metal fitting and slowly jimmying open its top.
“Again, Iska: What are those two doing?”
Just as Rin scowled, the two in the back started shouting.
“All right, it’s open.”
“Whoa! You’re amazing!”
“Well, let’s see what’s inside… Yeah, looks like a memory chip. Just like
we thought. I’ve got no idea what’s in this IC chip, but the rest is up to you,
Nene.”
“You got it.” Nene inserted the thin chip—small enough to rest on her
pinkie finger—into a portable device. She looked at the writing displayed on
the monitor. “Hmm…”
“How’s it look?”
“So based on what I know, it looks like there are two fishy files encrypted
here. This might be too difficult for me without help from the analysis squad
at HQ. I think I can only figure out how to open one of these right now.”

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“Wait, is one of them not encrypted?”
“That’s right. There’s only one file that was made by someone else. I
think the Hydra must have just acquired the data from someone, and they
were going to delete it right away.”
Jhin and Nene stared at the monitor.
A map featuring a continent was displayed on it. An arrow starting from
the Nebulis Sovereignty’s central state began to move, going straight across
to the Sovereignty’s border.
“Nene, what’s that number on the arrow? I can tell it’s binary with all the
ones and zeros.”
“I think it might be a date and time. In that case, they left last night from
the central state and got outside the border this morning. It has to be a plane
based on how fast it’s going, so they must be carrying something.”
“Hmm? Hey, Nene, isn’t this arrow entering Imperial territory?” Jhin
murmured.
At that moment, Rin’s eyes snapped open. “W-wait?! Let me check…!”
She rushed past Jhin and Nene, breaking between them to bring her face
close to the monitor. She stared at the map and the arrow, not even sparing a
blink.
“…I can’t believe it,” her voice rasped as it slipped out from between her
lips. “But there shouldn’t be an airport in this spot in the central state.”
“Huh?! B-but?”
“The starting point is at the Hydra’s estate. If they flew a private plane
out, then they must have been carrying… They couldn’t have been…”
Shuvalts had been at Snow and Sun, but Sisbell had not. And just
yesterday, a plane left from the Sovereignty carrying something.
Considering the situation…

The youngest princess must have been carried to Imperial territory.

Everyone fell silent.
It wasn’t a hypothetical scenario. They were nearly close to fully
believing it.
“…We were a step behind.” Rin bit her lip. “We found her attendant
there, which we’re using as a pretext to search the Hydra’s base… Then he

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must have decided to move her prior to the search. Curse you, Talisman.”
“But it looks like the arrow isn’t headed to the Imperial capital. It’s

somewhere way in the countryside.”
Jhin sighed. “The Empire’s our home, as far as we’re concerned. We can’t

just liberate a witch from Imperial territory or we’ll be in hot water. That’s
treason and exactly what Iska got in trouble for a year ago.”

“”
What do you wanna do? Jhin silently asked. Rin gritted her teeth in front
of him.
“We must rescue Sisbell. There is no questioning that. I cannot give that
up.”
“I get it. But as Imperial citizens, we can’t infiltrate anything within
Imperial territory. That’d be as good as rebelling against our home country.
Am I right, Commander?”
“…Y-yeah. I think it would be hard for us to help you directly, too.”
Commander Mismis and Nene also weakly agreed.
The Sovereignty was an enemy country as far as Unit 907 was concerned.
Causing mayhem in an enemy base wouldn’t count as rebellion, so they had
been able to work with Sisbell and Alice until that point.
But this next gambit was another matter.
…Unit 907 has its own position to think about.
…We can’t ever cause trouble in Imperial territory, not even if it’s to
rescue Sisbell.
So Talisman had even calculated this.
Taking Sisbell into Imperial territory meant Imperial soldiers like Iska—
not to mention the queen of the Nebulis—couldn’t do anything.
“If I could butt in…” Rin, who had been silent until then, raised her bitter-
looking face. “I have a proposal. Commander Mismis.”
“Y-yes?!”
When Rin mentioned her by name, the commander’s voice cracked.
“We weren’t able to recover Lady Sisbell, but I will make good on our
initial negotiations and will deliver you from the Sovereignty. In exchange, I
would like you to make a final deal with me.”
“Wh-what is it?”
“I will send a spy to tail you. And you will return to the Imperial territory
without noticing the spy.”

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“……Excuse me?” Commander Mismis’s eyes were open in surprise.
She would have a spy tailing them. That made sense for the Sovereignty
to do. But how were they supposed to not notice the spy? And if she didn’t
want them to notice the spy, why had she mentioned there being one? Iska
and Nene looked at each other and shook their heads.
“I see what you’re thinking.” The silver-haired sniper smirked slightly. “I
got it. That’s something we can just barely agree to, considering our position.
But this really is our last deal together.”
“So you figured it out,” Rin replied.
“Basically, it’ll go like this.” Jhin turned to Iska and the others. “We’ll
head out of the Sovereignty and back to Imperial territory. That’s not too
different from the plan. But before we reach the Imperial capital, we’ll
happen to go by the place Sisbell’s being held. The spy that followed us will
probably go find Sisbell then.”
All they would do was head back to the Imperial capital.
The plan was that one of Alice’s spies would find where Sisbell was being
held by chance.
“Oh…I see.” Iska finally realized it, too.
They wouldn’t do anything. All they would do was tolerate Alice’s spy
accompanying them.
“Commander, what do you think?”
“…I think that’s barely within reason for us to accept. Considering I’m
sure we won’t be able to leave the Sovereignty unless we accept, I think we
can agree to this.” Still hesitant, Mismis turned toward Rin. “But, Miss Rin, if
that spy fails to rescue Miss Sisbell, we can’t get involved. All we can do is
tolerate that the spy will tail us. We can’t betray the Empire any more than
that…”
“And I wouldn’t ask for anything more. We will simply do that no matter
what.” Rin immediately pulled out a communications device.
“We just need Lady Alice’s approval and the deal is done. Lady Alice, I
apologize for calling at such a busy time. I have a report. It’s about where
Lady Sisbell was taken,” the attendant told her, seeming full of nerves.
Iska watched her answer several questions.
“…I understand the situation.” Alice’s voice came faintly from the
comm. “Rin, we shall go through with the deal as you have outlined it. We
will rescue Sisbell. I would love to rush there immediately, but…”

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“It would be bad if you were to mobilize now, Lady Alice.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what the Hydra are aiming for. I can’t leave the queen
on her own,” Alice answered.
Iska heard her voice fill with dignity befitting a princess. It was a tone that
only he knew.
“I will stay at the palace, so I give the task of rescuing my sister to
someone I trust.”
“However, Lady Alice, the spy’s mission will be of utmost importance.
Now that we know the situation, the only one who could rescue Lady Sisbell
from an Imperial facility would be—”
“I’m counting on you.”
“…Come again?” Rin was taken aback. If her expression were to be
compared to anything, it looked as though she had seen a flying whale. She
gaped from stupefaction. “Lady Alice, um, what did you just say?”
“This is my precious sister. I can only leave this to someone I can trust.”
“I—I assent! But my idea was…to have one of the queen’s guards or a
member of the palace Planetary Domiciles who isn’t busy…”
“That won’t work.” Her mistress’s reply was merciless. “There are
certain conditions that must be met to have a spy go through with this
mission. One is that they must know they are an Imperial unit. We say you’ll
be tailing them, but you’ll actually be traveling with them. You need to know
each other.”
“ ” Rin’s face quickly paled.
Yes. There was only one person who could fulfill the conditions of her
lady.
“…Um, Lady Alice.”
“What is it?”
“As you are well aware, I despise the Empire. Simply seeing the Imperial
territories on a world map is enough to give me goose bumps. And you
expect me to go to the Empire…”
“You must go, Rin!” Alice yelled. “You must go to the Empire with Iska in
order to save my sister. This order is an honor, and it’s something only you
are capable of!”
“Noooo!” Rin’s face turned tomato red as her yell echoed throughout the
hotel room’s living area.

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EPILOGUE 2

Most Volatile Rage in the World

The underground area was even bluer than the sky.

The Nebulis palace. Isolated block.
The wide corridor made use of a natural limestone cave. Water dripped
down from above, echoing through the space.
A blue underground lake. The spring was clear. There was a blue glitter
even farther down below the water. The astral energy that welled up from
underground was being transported by the subterranean lake, which gave the
water its blue hue.
Clack. A hard footfall echoed against the rugged slope.
The footsteps continued down a bridge laid across the lake’s surface. A
gigantic glass coffin, put in safekeeping at the end of the bridge, towered over
the place.
Inside the clear coffin was a girl, perhaps thirteen or fourteen years of age.

“Revered Founder.”

A masked man bowed to her.
He was served by only two palace guards. Lord Mask, who represented
the head of household, slowly headed toward the glass coffin.
“The time has come. The opportunity for you to awaken is coming.”
He looked up at the girl with sun-bronzed skin and wavy pearlescent hair.
Her features as she slumbered still looked young and charming.
However…Lord Mask knew the world’s most horrific grudge slumbered
within her, the one who looked like only a girl at first glance.
The Founder Nebulis.

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